Angela Sidney

Infobox Writer
name = Angela Sidney


imagesize =
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pseudonym =
birthname = Ch'óonehte' Ma
Stóow
Angela Johns
birthdate = January 4 1902
birthplace = near Carcross
deathdate = July 17 1991
deathplace =
occupation = Storyteller, author
nationality = Yukon First Nations
ethnicity = Tagish
citizenship = Canadian
period = 20th century
genre = Native culture
subject = Folklore, traditions, place names
movement =
notableworks =
spouse = George Sidney,
partner =
children = Ida Calmegane and 6 other chldren
relatives = Skookum Jim
Kate Carmack
Dawson Charlie
influences =
influenced =
awards = Order of Canada


website =
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Angela Sidney, C.M. (January 4 1902 — July 17 1991) was a Tagish storyteller. She co-authored two narratives of traditional Tagish legends, and a historical document of Tagish place names for southern Yukon. For her linguistics and ethnography contributions, Sidney received the Order of Canada,Cite web|url=http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1552|title=Order of Canada: Angela Sidney, C.M.|publisher=Office of the Secretary to the Governor General of Canada|date=2005-09-27|accessdate=2008-06-13] cite web |url=http://www.yukoninfo.com/whitehorse/info/angelasidney.htm |title=Ch'ooneta Ma Stoow |accessdate=2008-06-08 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=yukoninfo.com] becoming the first Native woman from the Yukon to be so honoured.

"Well, I have no money to leave for my grandchildren. My stories are my wealth!" [cite book |title=The Social Life of Stories: Narrative and Knowledge in the Yukon |last=Cruikshank |first=Julie |pages=xi |year=2000 |publisher=UBC Press |location= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=2_BdKMakuNQC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=%22Angela+Sidney%22&source=web&ots=_LPVd5H0EA&sig=YgeFmcz8MPtX7J1OvB3jGJqBb3g&hl=en#PPR11,M1 |isbn=0774806494]

Biography

;ChildhoodSidney was born near Carcross in 1902. She was given two names at birth, Ch'óonehte' Ma (in Tagish), Stóow (in Tlingit), and a third, Angela, by her godfather, when she was two weeks old.

Her mother, Maria John (or Maria Tagish) (born ca. 1871), was of Tlingit "Deiheetaan" (Crow) clan ancestry. Her father, Tagish John (born ca. 1856), was Tagish Dakhl'awedi. [cite web |url=http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/carcross/first_nations_pages/tlingit_main.htm |title=Clan Histories |accessdate=2008-06-08 |last=Carcross Community School |publisher=yk.ca] [cite web |url=http://automatedgenealogy.com/census11/View.jsp?id=27035 |title=1911 Census of Canada |accessdate=2008-06-08 |last=Bellefeuille (transcriber) |first=Sandi |date=1911 |work= |publisher=automatedgenealogy.com] Maria was left weak after epidemics killed the famly's first four children.cite book |last=Cruikshank |first=J. |year=1990 |title=Life lived like a story: life stories of three Yukon native elders: American Indian lives |location=Lincoln |pubisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=0803214472] A brother, Johnny, and a sister, Alice Dora, were Sidney's siblings from the couple's second family. Because her mother was not well, Sidney, eldest daughter, spent much of her time assisting her mother and listening to her stories.cite web |url=http://www.ammsa.com/buffalospirit/2003/footprints-AngelaSidney.html |title=Footprints: Angela Sidney: Preserving the culture, a personal endeavor |accessdate=2008-06-08 |last=Petten |first=Cheryl |publisher=ammsa.com] However, Sidney did receive some schooling in Carcross at the Anglican mission school prior to age ten.

Her father's cousins, Skookum Jim, Kate Carmack and Dawson Charlie, were credited with making the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896.

;AdulthoodAt age 14, Sidney married George Sidney (ca. 1888 - 1971). [cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=CyqY6VgmsgAC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=%22angela+sidney%22+husband&source=web&ots=OLTwTW1nKC&sig=dZOJzhn_1cvcOSpxE2wQxScRe64&hl=en#PPA59,M1 |pages=59 |title=Canadian Missionaries, Indigenous Peoples: Representing Religion |last=Austin |first=Alvyn |coauthors=Scott,J.S. |year=2005 |publisher=University of TorontoPress |location=Toronto |isbn=0802037844] They had seven children, four of whom died young. George worked seasonally for White Pass and Yukon Route railroad, he later became chief at Carcross.cite book |title=Our Voices: Native Stories of Alaska and the Yukon |last=Ruppert |first=J. |authorlink= |coauthors=Bernet, J.W. |year=2001 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |location= 0803289847|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9r7xY9OAWZcC&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=%22Angela+Sidney%22+festival&source=web&ots=d9ElI3FZWc&sig=6aMePdPXW47tXaksMKF0EPotzT8&hl=en |isbn=0803289847]

Sidney loved to listen to her parents' stories, and those of her relatives. To ensure that the dances, language, stories, and traditions of her people were recorded for future generations, Sidney started teaching Tagish traditions to schoolchildren. She assisted linguists Victor Golla, Jeff Leer and John Ritter and anthropologists Catherine McClellan and Julie Cruikshank with their research on Tagish language and traditions to ensure the Tagish language would not be lost. In teaching the craft of storytelling to her niece, Louise Profeit-LeBlanc, Sidney emphasized the need to be cognizant of the needs of the audience, preface the telling with a prayer, and seek forgiveness before offense is taken. [cite journal |url=http://www.horizonzero.ca/textsite/tell.php?tlang=0&is=17&file=8 |title=Stories Have Their Way With Us: Whatever the medium, ancestral voices reach out to the listener |accessdate=2008-06-09 |last=Profeit-LeBlanc |first=Louise |coauthors= |date= |work= |journal=Horizon |volume=17]

Sidney died in 1991. She was survived by a daughter, Ida Calmegane.

Awards and honors

* 1986, Member of the Order of Canada [cite web |url=http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1552 |title=Angela Sidney, C.M. |accessdate=2008-06-08 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date=2008-03-18 |work= |publisher=gg.ca]
* Sidney was the inpiration for the development of the Yukon International Storytelling Festival, created in 1988, when fellow storytellers learned that Sidney had to travel to Toronto in 1984 to be part of a storytelling festival. [cite web |url=http://www.storytelling.yk.net/History.htm |title=History |accessdate=2008-06-09 |publisher=storytelling.yk.net]

elected stories

* "Getting married"
* "The stolen woman"
* "How people got flint"
* "The old woman under the world"
* "Moldy head"
* "Fox helper"
* "Wolf story"
* "Potlatch story"

Partial bibliography

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References

Persondata
NAME = Sidney, Angela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Ch'óonehte' Ma; Stóow
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Storyteller, author
DATE OF BIRTH = January 4 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH = near Carcross
DATE OF DEATH = July 17 1991
PLACE OF DEATH =